Region lacks Internet marketing techniques - Jordan

[Via] Jordon Times

AMMAN — A leading British travel expert said on Wednesday that Middle East tourism industries needed to develop their Internet marketing strategies to compete in the global market.

President of the World Travel Awards Graham Cooke told TOURCOM participants yesterday that the region's tourism potential suffered as a result of insufficient Internet marketing techniques.

"The Middle East has a warm and hospitable culture but suffers from not getting the needed information out there to the world at large," Cooke told tourism officials on the final day of the two-day conference focusing on the challenges facing the region's tourism industry.

"You must do your culture justice by thinking carefully of expanding your Internet capacities, particularly in terms of the broadband because of the very competitive markets out there," he added.

He displayed the power of the Internet to relay information to a vast audience by showing a projection of a website featuring the morning TOURCOM session, which by midday had already received 67,000 hits.

While agreeing with Cooke, Syrian Tourism Minister Saadallah Agha Al Qalaa said officials needed to make sure they had the human resource capacities in place to serve the targeted markets.

"Tourism industries in this region can build their communication capacities but we have to make sure we have tour guides with the required languages," said Qalaa.

According to Cooke, who has more than 30 years of experience in travel publishing, bilingual websites are a key marketing strategy that have a direct impact on consumers.

He said such websites can improve communication between different languages and cultures, while reaching wider target audiences.

The use of language within websites directly affects productivity and revenue in tourism, improves marketing and overcomes language misunderstandings, he said.

"Organisations must communicate in different languages and understand cultures if they succeed in the marketplace." "The use of such tools however have not sufficiently made their mark in this part of the world yet," he added.